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Ananda Bhavan Restaurant – Wholesome Thosai

Rating:

By Veron Ang

I love Little India! The area makes me feel like I’m a tourist in a foreign land! Out of my numerous visits, I wonder why I had never seen Ananda Bhavan Restaurant. It’s a double-storey Indian vegetarian eating house, also the oldest vegetarian restaurant in Singapore!

The place boasts fuss-free, no-frills dining. You queue up at the counter to order and pay for your food. You get a queue number (like the ones at clinics!) which would flash on the LED screen when your food is ready to be collected.

Mysore Masala Thosai

Mysore Masala Thosai
S$4+

The daily special was Mysore Masala thosai. It came folded into a triangular shape and boy, it was big! I couldn’t finish most of what was on the plate! It was served along with 3 different spicy pastes and a curry. The curry was watered down and bland. My favourite condiment to go with the thosai was the bright orange-coloured one.

Mysore Masala Thosai

Each thosai packed a pouch of potato, onion, corn and green peas. It was rich in flavour and yummy yummy! I love Indian food!

Samosa

Samosa
S$0.90+

We had samosas to go along too. For me personally, samosas are a staple in any Indian meal. I had been worried that the samosas here might be a little stale, but I was wrong! The thin crispy layer of skin wrapped around ample portions of filling. Yum yum!

At the next table, we noticed people eating thosai that were 2-3 feet long! Boy, am I gonna have one the next time I drop by!

Ananda Bhavan Restaurant
Little India
58 Serangoon Road
Singapore 217964
Tel: +65 6297 9522 | Website

Tags: casual, dinner, Indian, Little India, lunch, restaurant, thosai, vegetarian

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About the Editor

Veron Ang is the Founder and Chief Editor of Sparklette, a Singapore restaurants guide, lifestyle and travel blog. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in computer science from the National University of Singapore and runs a web design firm at Sparklette Studio. To get in touch, head on over to the contact page or follow @Sparklette and @VeronSG on Twitter.

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Responses Leave a comment

viswali
5 comments

Hey I also luurrvve the food at Anand Bhavan. The next time you should try the naan and chapati with the curries. Also try the South Indian Thali which is a rice meal and is a favourite of mine there! The food there is yummy!
Reply
Posted July 12, 2007 at 1:30 pm
Michael Baxter
12 comments

DAMN! THAT LOOKS MIGHTY TASTY!!
When you come to Kyoto, I don’t suppose that you could bring me some?
[Sorry if the answer to my question is in your FAQ]
Also MEGA congrats on kicking blog ass!
Everyone using POWNCE?
Reply
Posted July 12, 2007 at 1:36 pm
Daphne Maia
16 comments

i like north indian food… more.
and i like meat… alot.
Reply
Posted July 12, 2007 at 1:39 pm
Miccheng
90 comments

It looks good. I’ve tasted alot of Indian food while working at Comwerks – my colleagues were Indian foodies… espy my boss who’s an Indian Vegetarian.
Remember to fold the banana leaf (in half) away from you. That’s a sign that you loved the food – Folding it the other way (towards you) means u don’t like it. :D
Reply
Posted July 12, 2007 at 2:54 pm
Jevon Louis
7 comments

The “bright orange coloured one” is actually coconut chutney blended with chilli.
The “2 – 3 foot long” thosai is known as a Paper Thosai.
Reply
Posted July 12, 2007 at 3:37 pm
Veron
3439 comments

viswali: Thanks for the tip! I can’t WAIT to go there again. The food was awesome!
Michael Baxter: Haha I would love to bring you some but it wouldn’t be feasible; I would be visiting Kyoto only during my last days in Japan! Hey I’m on Pownce! My user name is “veron”.
Daphne Maia: I prefer North Indian food too! Maybe for the next pingster meet-up, we could all go to a North Indian place.
Miccheng: That banana leaf custom sounds neat. Thanks for enlightening me!
Jevon Louis: Wow! I learned two new things about Indian food today. Thanks!
Reply
Posted July 13, 2007 at 1:35 am
anivyl
1 comment

you should try something called rasa masala thosai (i think), if you are into spicier stuff. it’s filled with chilli padi and other stuff, upping the *oomph* in the spicy chapter. i haven’t been to little india for a long time, thanks for the reminder :)
Reply
Posted July 13, 2007 at 8:17 am
Veron
3439 comments

Wow! That chilli padi thing sounds fab! Very hot! And I love spicy food! Thanks for the recommendation. I HAVE to try it for myself!
Reply
Posted July 13, 2007 at 8:52 am
Cloudywind
1 comment

do they provide free topups of those sauces? they do tat in Chennai, and it’ll be great if these guys can do the same! (anyway it’s not like these sauce are ex…)
Reply
Posted July 13, 2007 at 11:01 am
Veron
3439 comments

Well, we didn’t ask for more sauces. But I’m sure they would have given it to us if we did. It’s just sauce and gravy!
Reply
Posted July 13, 2007 at 11:07 am
py
183 comments

Little India is an interesting place to visit. That probably explains why I have submitted at least two posts on Yesterday.sg related to little India.
Veron, you are pretty good at spotting the good eating places at Little India. For me, there’s so many choices that I don’t know where to start.
Reply
Posted July 13, 2007 at 1:19 pm
Jayson
44 comments

I love Indian Food. The varieties of curries, the assortments of spices, the delectable presentations. I simply love savouring them!
With that, this gives me a great vibe feeling to compose a haiku for you!
Curries and Spices,
Gives me this great vibe feeling,
Brings me a new high …
-Jayson
Haiku Chief Guru
Reply
Posted July 13, 2007 at 3:02 pm
Veron
3439 comments

py: This is the third restaurant in Little India that I have reviewed. All 3 were good. I’m just lucky! Hmm… I wonder if Walter would accept food reviews for yesterday.sg? This is, after all, the oldest vegetarian restaurant in Singapore.
Jayson: Thanks for your wonderful haiku again! So it may be littered with grammatical errors. But I do see the sincerity and the effort! Thanks! I’m touched!
Reply
Posted July 13, 2007 at 4:09 pm
py
183 comments

Actually, if you can slant your food reviews posts to have elements of heritage and some history in them. I don’t see why they can’t be posted on Yesterday.sg
I have seen a columnist write about the history behind some of the famous Singapore dishes (e.g. curry fish head) on one of the Zaobao’s Sunday’s column, and I think it will make a good post for Yesterday.sg. Some ideas for foodie like yourself to consider when you have lots of time.
Reply
Posted July 13, 2007 at 11:44 pm
Daphne Maia
22 comments

i think jayson’s haiku writing skills have improved! yay! :) hahahahaha…
yep, veron, nxt time we go for north indian food! but if no one else wanna go… its ok! we both go… hahaha..
Reply
Posted July 14, 2007 at 1:16 pm
Veron
3439 comments

py: You are right! From now on, whenever I visit an eatery that has some history, I would make sure to find out more from the owners and the staff. A food review with some cultural/historic elements in it would make an interesting read for yesterday.sg readers. I don’t think anyone has done it before, but I could be wrong.
Daphne Maia: Okay! On! We can even make it a girls-only outing! Wheeeeee~
Reply
Posted July 14, 2007 at 5:35 pm
wenniee
11 comments

yummy!!
it is ok i link you to my blog?!!
:)
Reply
Posted July 15, 2007 at 12:18 pm
Veron
3439 comments

Sure! Thanks for linking me :)
Reply
Posted July 15, 2007 at 1:06 pm
muze
1 comment

i don’t know say what
but i can say: your blog very nice! really
Reply
Posted July 15, 2007 at 3:06 pm
Walter
72 comments

Looks so good man and totally in line with my new pledge (which isn’t working very well) to try to eat more vegetables which are much kinder to the environment. OK, I must go there next weekend or thereabouts…. Love Indian food and spices too.
Reply
Posted July 15, 2007 at 11:17 pm